Baking and cooking my way through the cold Alaska winters keeps me from getting cabin fever. With the help of my husband and our four dogs, we manage to maintain our sanity through adventures in our kitchen and our hometown, Fairbanks.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Tiger Bread - Daring Kitchen Challenge

I love to bake bread. I think I might have mentioned that before. I love the smell of the yeast, the feel of the dough when you work with it, the smell of baking bread, it all is very comforting. I was very excited about this month's Daring Kitchen challenge because it involves baking bread! This was a wonderful thing to do this weekend. We took the three big dogs for their annual trip to the vet, ran errands it seemed like all over town and then I warmed up in the kitchen by baking bread and we had hot, crusty bread with dinner.

Here is the introduction for this month's hosts and instructions from the Daring Kitchen:

First, let us introduce ourselves. We are Sara and Erica from Baking JDs.
During our first year of law school, we discovered Daring Bakers and
decided that monthly baking was just the thing to get us to take a break
from our studies and do something that we both already loved. Since we
graduated in May 2010, we’ve continued the tradition. As busy
attorneys, it hasn’t gotten any easier to find the time, but it’s always
worth it.Both of us live in San Francisco, which is home to all kinds of
culinary traditions. Of course, sourdough bread is one of the first
things that springs to people’s minds. For our challenge, however,
we’ve decided to make Dutch Crunch bread. Sara grew up in the Bay Area,
but was dismayed when she moved away for college that Dutch Crunch
bread is not usually available outside of Northern California. For many
folks from the Bay Area, a sandwich just isn’t complete without Dutch
Crunch bread. Technically, Dutch Crunch doesn’t refer to the type of bread, but
rather the topping that is spread over the bread before baking. In
Dutch it’s called Tijgerbrood or “tiger bread” after the tiger-like
shell on the bread when it comes out of the oven. The final product has
a delightful sweet crunch to it that makes it perfect for a sandwich
roll. It’s a common option at sandwich shops all over the Bay Area and
is often one of the first breads to run out.Learn more about the history of Dutch Crunch bread, particularly in the Bay Area, here, here, and here. Therefore, the heart of this challenge is the topping. While we’ve
provided a few bread recipes that worked great for us, it is up to you
what rolls or loaves you want to turn into Dutch Crunch, which should
leave room for vegan and gluten-free options. We’d recommend a nice,
soft sandwich-appropriate roll with not too much crust, so the topping
can really stand out. Once you have your final loaves, you’re required
to use your bread to construct a sandwich of your choice!

So, I started with the bread recipe they suggested:

Soft White Roll

Servings: Six sandwich rollsThis recipe approximates the quintessential white sandwich roll
found throughout the Bay Area. The recipe is simple, quick, and
addictive.Ingredients
1 tablespoon (1 packet) (15 ml) (7 gm/ ¼ oz) active dry yeast
¼ cup (60 ml) warm water (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (No need to use a
thermometer – it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch).
1 cup (240 ml) warm milk (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (We’ve tried both nonfat and 2%, with no noticeable difference)
1½ tablespoons (22½ ml) (20 gm/ ⅔ oz) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil (plus additional olive or vegetable oil for greasing bowl during rising)
1½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (9 gm/⅓ oz) salt
Up to 4 cups (960 ml) (600 gm/21oz) all purpose flourDirections:
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer or large mixing bowl, combine
yeast, water, milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit for about 5
minutes (The mixture should start to bubble or foam a bit and smell
yeasty).
2. Add in vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Using the dough hook
attachment or a wooden spoon, mix at medium speed until the dough comes
together.
3. Add remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls
away from the sides of the bowl, as shown in the photo below (For us,
this usually required an additional 1½ to 2 cups of flour).

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
5. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise
for 1 hour, or until doubled (or more) in size.
6. Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured
surface and divide it into 6 equal portions (if you’d like to make
rolls) or 2 equal portions (if you’d like to make a loaf) (using a sharp
knife or a dough scraper works well). Shape each into a ball or loaf
and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (try not to handle the dough
too much at this point).
7. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.
8. Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping as described
above. While the original recipe recommends letting them stand for 20
minutes after applying the topping, I got better results by putting them
directly into the oven.
9. Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated moderately hot
380ºF/190°C/gas mark 5 for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool
completely on a wire rack before eating.

Dutch Crunch Topping

Servings: This recipe should make sufficient topping for two 9x5
loaves (23cmx13cm) or 12 rolls. If you make only 6 rolls in the first
soft white roll recipe, you can cut the topping recipe in half.
We’ve provided this recipe first because it is the mandatory aspect of
the challenge. Note, however, that you should not prepare the topping
until the bread you’ve selected to bake is almost finished rising (~15
minutes from baking). Ingredients
2 tablespoons (2 packets) (30 ml) (15 gm/½ oz) active dry yeast
1 cup (240 ml) warm water (105-115º F) (41-46°C)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (240 gm/8½ oz) rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or
glutinous rice flour) (increase by 1 cup or more for home-made rice
flour)Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk;
beat hard to combine. The consistency should be like stiff royal icing –
spreadable, but not too runny. If you pull some up with your whisk, as
shown below, it should drip off slowly. Add more water or rice flour as
necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.
2. Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. We
tried coating it with a brush but it worked better just to use fingers
or a spoon and kind of spread it around. You should err on the side of
applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.
3. Let stand, uncovered, for any additional time your recipe recommends.
With the Soft White Roll, you can place the rolls directly into the
oven after applying the topping. With the Brown Rice Bread, the loaves
should stand for 20 minutes with the topping before baking.
4. When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake
your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Crunch topping should
crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.

Thanks to Sara and Erica for the great challenge. I already have requests from my husband for more rolls.

One very large meatball sandwich we shared for dinner. This held 20 meatballs!

Tips:
I made 6 rolls, and they were huge (about 5 oz each roll)! I made a bar-b-que meatball sandwich and we shared the sandwich and had some left-over. Next time I'll make them 3 oz. each and I think that will be a better size. I'll try them with hamburgers this weekend.